Basketball has been a part of the Paralympic Games since 1960. Though originally played only by men with spinal cord injuries, now both men's and women's teams throughout the world, with a variety of disabilities, compete in the sport.

Many of the same rules from its counterpart apply in the wheelchair game. While plays and tactics are similar, special rules, such as those to accommodate dribbling from a wheelchair, are also in place.

The sport is governed by the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF). The IWBF governs all aspects of the game, including court size and basket height, which remain the same as able-bodied basketball. Athletes in this event are grouped by demonstrated playing ability, rather than strictly by medical classification.

Paralympic basketball competition is open to male and female athletes with physical disabilities such as amputation/limb loss, spinal cord injury/wheelchair-users, cerebral palsy/brain injury/stroke and other orthopedic and locomotor disabilities.